Tag Archives: nature

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Take Hold of the Faith You Long For

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I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Philippians. 3:12

Friend to Friend

Have you ever watched a circus performer on a flying trapeze? A short horizontal bar suspended by ropes or metal straps dangles high above the crowd. The aerialist grabs the trapeze bar, jumps off of a high platform, and swings through the air. She swings out once, swings back above the platform, and swings out again.

It is during the peak of the third swing where the fun begins for those below. The performer releases the bar mid-air and grabs hold of another bar or second performer hanging from his knees who swings toward her. Once she grabs hold, the crowd remembers to breathe. Somersaults, backflips, and triple twists wow the crowd. And each move requires the performer to let go and grab hold—let go of one bar and grab hold of another. Without the faith to do so, the trapeze artist would simply swing back and forth until the pumping momentum gave way to dangling, or she would hang, stuck in-between two platforms, with hands clinging to both bars. Not the greatest show on earth.

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Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – His Mark of Ownership

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“He has put His brand upon us – His mark of ownership – and given us His Holy Spirit in our hearts as guarantee that we belong to Him, and as the first installment of all that He is going to give us” (2 Corinthians 1:22).

Some time ago, a young Christian came to share his problems. He was very frustrated and confused, and he spoke of the constant defeat and fruitlessness which he experienced in the Christian life.

“You don’t have to live in defeat,” I said to him.

The young man registered surprise.

“You can live a life of victory, a life of joy, a life of fruitfulness,” I assured him. “In fact, by the grace of God – and to Him alone be the glory – for more than 25 years as a Christian I do not recall a single hour of broken fellowship with the Lord Jesus.”

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Ray Stedman

Ray Stedman – The Need to Belong

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Read: Leviticus 1

The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock. Lev 1:1-2

There are five offerings in Leviticus: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the trespass offering and the sin offering. All five represent aspects of the work of Jesus Christ. The first offering is the burnt offering. The most important characteristic of the burnt offering is that it had to involve a death. Death in these offerings is always a picture of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. So when these Israelites offered this sacrifice they were learning the great truth that only by means of the death of an acceptable substitute can man ever satisfy this great longing to belong. Only in the recognition of the death of Jesus Christ for you, can you ever satisfy that longing. He is the expression of the love of God. So we must give ourselves to God through Christ, acknowledging that he owns us, that we belong to him: You are not your own; you are bought with a price, (1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a RSV). God does not and will not exploit you and run you like a robot or a slave. He loves you and wants to fulfill you and set you free. But you do belong to him. That is the most basic truth of all.

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Words of Hope

Words of Hope – Daily Devotional – The Beginning

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Read: Mark 1:1

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (v. 1)

Everything starts somewhere. The gospel did too, and so Mark makes his very first word (in Greek) “Beginning.” If this sounds like Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning . . .” you’re right. This was Mark’s intention. The arrival of God’s Son was an act of new creation, a new Genesis.

But no one is quite sure how much of Mark constitutes this “beginning.” Does Mark mean just Mark 1:1-8? All of Mark 1? Or could Mark mean the whole book is just the beginning? I prefer the latter option because of how Mark also ends in Mark 16:8. Since we just celebrated Easter, we may recall that Mark’s Gospel, at least in its most ancient version, concludes with terrified women fleeing from the empty tomb in silence.

Seems like an odd way to end! Can the gospel end in silence? No! But just before the women flee, they are told to go back to Galilee to see Jesus. But where in Mark is Galilee? Right back in Mark 1. It is as though Mark is saying, “Go back to the beginning. Now that you have seen the cross and the empty tomb, go back and reread my gospel. Because the whole thing is just the beginning. Now the story continues through you. Don’t let it end in silence but tell the whole story of how in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the whole world is being made new!”

Prayer:

Father God, open our lips that they may speak gospel truth.

https://woh.org/

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – Christlike

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Billy Graham once asked, “Do you want to know what God’s will is for you? To become more and more like Christ. This is spiritual maturity, and if you make this your goal, it will change your life.” And, it can be added, the lives of others as well.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10

In today’s verse, Christ was instructing His disciples how to pray. He emphasized God’s will over their desires. He precisely followed these instructions later as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Facing death, Jesus begged, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) By allowing His Father’s purposes to be accomplished, Christ saved the life of every person on Earth who chooses to believe in Him.

As you pray today and throughout the month of April, ask God to help you become more like Christ and to compel you to seek His will more than your own desires – even when it means strife or struggle for you. Pray, too, for God’s perfect purposes to be carried out in America for its leaders and citizens…so that His kingdom may be fulfilled to His glory!

Recommended Reading: Luke 22:39-46

http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/index.php

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Secret of Christian Joy

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Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things. —Philippians 4:8

There is something better than pursuing happiness. And there is something that is, in effect, even better than happiness. That something is called joy.

Joy is the theme of the book of Philippians. Now, if Paul had written this epistle while he was sitting on a Mediterranean beach, catching some rays, and sipping an iced tea, that would be one thing. But that wasn’t the case. Paul was incarcerated in Rome when he wrote this letter to the believers in Philippi. Even though he was writing from a place of difficulty, Paul wrote a letter that resonated with joy.

So how could Paul be so joyful and jubilant under such adverse circumstances? And is this joy something that we can experience in the twenty-first century?

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Kids 4 Truth

Kids 4 Truth International – God Wants Us To Bear Fruit

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“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing…. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15:5,16)

“These are the best apples in the world!” exclaimed Savannah.

“You like those, eh?” asked Grandpa Gooberman.

“Yes, I do!” replied Savannah, with bits of apple flying out of her mouth.

With a twinkle in his eye, Grandpa Gooberman said, “Yup. Sure was a good harvest. I picked them right off of the pear tree this year.”

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Jerry Bridges – Holiness Day by Day Devotional – No Exceptions

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Today’s Scripture: Psalm 61:5

“You, O God, have heard my vows.”

Commitment to the pursuit of holiness is, first of all, a commitment to God to pursue a way of life that is pleasing to him. It is commitment to a life of obedience. Such a commitment must allow for no exceptions, no secret sins we want to hold onto, no sinful habits we’re unwilling to give up. We must make it our aim not to sin.

This doesn’t mean we can arrive at sinless perfection in this life, for even our best deeds are stained with sin. But it does mean that our firm intention must be not to sin willfully. Commitment to a life of holiness without exception is a requirement for consistently making the right choices. There’s no point in praying for God’s help in the face of temptation if we haven’t made a commitment to obedience without exception.

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The Navigators

The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Jehoshaphat’s Example

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Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 17-20

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. – Colossians 2:6

When I was growing up on a farm in Iowa, we had a neighbor who, every time something unusual or exciting happened, would shout “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!” But a reading of 2 Chronicles 17-20 lets us know that Jehoshaphat was not known for his ability in jumping, but for his walk with God.

He wisely took precautions to fortify the land against invasion. But more than that, he walked in the ways of David, his father. And even here Jehoshaphat was selective, following the positive example of David while avoiding his weakness and sin. When King Jehoshaphat gave himself to the laws of God, the Bible says he put his heart in it. The New Testament describes this as fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Continue reading The Navigators – Leroy Eims – Daily Discipleship Devotional – Jehoshaphat’s Example →

BreakPoint

BreakPoint –  Faith Can be Fatal: Pakistani Christians in the Crosshairs

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This past Easter weekend, two events in Pakistan served as reminders of the precarious position of Christians living in societies with Muslims majorities.

The first was, of course, the bombing of a park in Lahore, the ancient capital of Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab. On the afternoon of Easter Sunday, while members of Pakistan’s increasingly beleaguered Christian minority celebrated the holiday, a suicide bomber detonated his device, killing at least 70 people and wounding at least 300 more.

Shortly after the attack, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban named Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which in truly Orwellian fashion means “Assembly of the Free,” claimed responsibility, admitting brazenly that the attack was “aimed at killing members of Pakistan’s Christian minority gathered at the park to celebrate Easter Sunday.”

Since Christians are less than two percent of Pakistan’s estimated 190 million people, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the attack killed Muslims as well as Christians. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was outraged and after visiting victims in hospital, declared that, “Our resolve as a nation and as a government is getting stronger and the cowardly enemy is trying for soft targets.”

While I don’t doubt the Prime Minister’s sincerity, he really has his work cut out for him. As the Canadian Broadcasting Company put it, the jihadist market in Pakistan is “saturated.” And as recent events in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, demonstrate, there’s no shortage of Pakistani’s eager to victimize its Christian minority.

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Today in the Word

Moody Global Ministries – Today in the Word – SALVATION THROUGH JESUS ALONE

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Read Acts 4:1-12

In 2004 the BBC launched a new television show that would become a global phenomenon with nearly twenty different versions produced around the world. Each episode of Who Do You Think You Are? features the family history of a famous person, exploring everything from disappeared relatives to distant royal connections to ancestors’ migrations. Participants often say, “I hope this experience will help me understand myself and my family.”

This month in Today in the Word we are going to explore similar questions: Who are we? What is our true identity? What do we know about our family? Our goal is not just to know ourselves better but also to understand what it means to locate our identity in Christ. And in order to find the answers, we have to know where to begin.

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Denison Forum

Denison Forum – IS GREAT BRITAIN EXPERIENCING REVIVAL?

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“I am optimistic that we will see this nation come back to God.” So states Britain’s Pastor Agu Irukwu of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. His group was founded in Nigeria but now has 600 congregations across the U.K.

Nearly 800 British churches have closed in the last six years, but Pentecostal or charismatic churches are taking their place. For instance, Hillsong Church London holds four services every Sunday, attended by 8,000 people. More than 5,000 churches have been started in Great Britain since 1980. God is moving in a country desperate for spiritual awakening.

Meanwhile in America, Southern governors are facing increased pressure to compromise on religious liberty or lose business for their states. Colleges are spending millions of dollars to deal with an escalation in sexual misconduct cases. And the U.S. government will spend an addition $22 million to fight an epidemic of heroin and painkiller abuse.

Does our nation need moral and spiritual renewal?

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Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Our Relationship With God

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Psalm 119:33-40

By trusting in Jesus Christ, a person enters into a lifelong relationship with the heavenly Father. As believers, we have a responsibility to keep that connection healthy.

First, we must learn about our new family. An essential and ongoing part of family life involves knowing and being known by the other members. In the Bible, God gave a detailed description of His attributes, values, and thinking. And since Jesus came to earth, we can better understand His Father’s divine character, which was demonstrated in a human life. As we meditate on Scripture, our sense of connectedness to God will continue to grow.

Second, we should stay in close contact with the Lord through prayer and study of His Word—and resist the temptation to put people, work, or pleasures ahead of Him. Remember: Relationships thrive with consistent interaction but wither if they are neglected.

Third, we must respond to what He has communicated to us. He provided instructions for living and explained what pleases Him. In healthy families, people pay attention to each other. We are to heed our Father’s warnings and obey His commands.

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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Follow Me

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Read: Mark 2:13-17

Bible in a Year: Judges 11-12; Luke 6:1-26

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. —Mark 2:17

Health clubs offer many different programs for those who want to lose weight and stay healthy. One fitness center caters only to those who want to lose at least 50 pounds and develop a healthy lifestyle. One member says that she quit her previous fitness club because she felt the slim and fit people were staring at her and judging her out-of-shape body. She now works out 5 days a week and is achieving healthy weight loss in a positive and welcoming environment.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to call the spiritually unfit to follow Him. Levi was one such person. Jesus saw him sitting in his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14). His words captured Levi’s heart, and he followed Jesus. Tax collectors were often greedy and dishonest in their dealings and were considered religiously unclean. When the religious leaders saw Jesus having dinner at Levi’s house with other tax collectors, they asked, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (2:16). Jesus replied, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2:17).

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Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry – Man of Our Sorrows

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“Prosperity, pleasure, and success may be rough of grain and common in fibre, but sorrow is the most sensitive of all created things.”

Those are the words of the famed pleasure seeker, Oscar Wilde. In his De Profundis, written in prison, he wrote with profound earnestness about how much sorrow had taught him. He went on to add, “Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. Some day people will realize what that means. They will know nothing of life till they do.”

As I reflect on those words, I take note first of the one who wrote them. A life of pain was the farthest thing from his mind when he made his choices. In that sense, none of us ever really choose sorrow. But I take note of something else in his words. His claim is bold; he is not merely confessing an idea written across his worldview, but one he insists is written across the world: Sorrow is holy ground and those who do not learn to walk there know nothing of what living means. What he means at the very least is that some of life’s most sacred truths are learned in the midst of sorrow. He learned, for example, that raw unadulterated pleasure for pleasure’s sake is never a fulfilling pleasure. Violation of the sacred in the pursuit of happiness is not truly a source of happiness. In fact, it kills happiness because it can run roughshod over many a victim. Pleasure that profanes is pleasure that destroys.

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John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Strength for Today – The Summation of Humility

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“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).

If believers fulfill their constant debt of love, they will have a continual attitude of sacrificial humility.

Origen, the early church father, wisely said, “The debt of love remains with us permanently and never leaves us. This is a debt which we pay every day and forever owe.” The primary reason you and I can pay that debt is that “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). God’s own love to us and every other believer is the bottomless well from which we can draw and then share with others.

If we have this wonderful, supernatural resource of love through the Holy Spirit, it only follows that we must submit to the Spirit. When we do so, all the enemies and impediments to humility—pride, unjustified power-grabbing, selfish ambition, partisanship, hatred—will melt away. What an overwhelming thought to consider that such humility can be ours because God Himself, through His Spirit, is teaching us to love as we yield to Him (1 Thess. 4:9).

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Wisdom Hunters

Wisdom Hunters – Resurrection Life 

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I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11

  From the domestication of fire and the invention of the wheel, to air travel and the creation of the Internet, human beings have achieved remarkable things. Yet in spite of all of our advancements and accomplishments, the resurrection of Jesus forces us to come to terms with our limitations and shortcomings.

Simply put, we are not all-powerful or all-knowing, neither are we self-originating or self-sustaining. Though we try to deny it, we are all running a losing race with time and daily feel the effects of sin and death on our bodies, families, and communities.

However, the discovery of our brokenness is the very way we enter into a life of worship, wonder, and overwhelming joy!

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Turning Point

Today’s Turning Point with David Jeremiah – Hidden Piggy Banks

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We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
Psalm 78:4, ESV

Young children love collecting coins to fill their piggy banks. They dream of candy and toys as they listen to the clang of carefully dropped coins into bright colored ceramic. Meanwhile, hidden from view, children have a far more important collection growing inside of them: their memories.

Little eyes watch: processing and making sense of the world one moment at a time. Parents do their best to direct their children, creatively using everything at their disposal. In the bustle of life it is easy to forget the most impactful tool available: who we are and who we are becoming.
Whether we are influencing children, friends, or coworkers, who we are speaks the loudest. I can say something is important to me, but do my actions and life agree? Integrity is when a person’s words, actions, and values are aligned. The best way to become a leader worth following is to follow God, allowing Him to transform and direct us. He has infinite wisdom. As we attune and surrender ourselves to God, we grow in our ability to trust Him with ourselves and the ones we love.

Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.
Charles R. Swindoll

Read-Thru-the-Bible
1 Samuel 28 – 31

http://www.davidjeremiah.org/

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Join the Party

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A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken.— Proverbs 15:13

When Jesus invited people to become His disciples and follow Him, He asked them if they wanted to join His party. I realize He was talking about His group, but I like to think that traveling with Jesus was probably a lot of fun as well as a lot of hard work.

Repeatedly throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus invite people to leave their lifestyles and side with His party, and He is still issuing that invitation today. Yes, there is work to do for the kingdom of God, but thankfully we can have fun while we do it.

When we follow Jesus, we are not going to a solemn assembly or a funeral. We are joining His party that is full of life, peace, and never-ending joy!

Prayer of Thanks: Father, help me to lay aside the burdens and cares of this world and receive Your joy today. I thank You that You want me to have fun and enjoy the life You have given me. With Your help, I will celebrate Your goodness in my life today and every day.

From the book The Power of Being Thankful by Joyce Meyer.

http://www.joycemeyer.org

Girlfriends in God

Girlfriends in God – Stop Running From Fear

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The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.

Proverbs 1:7

Friend to Friend

Proverbs 1:7 tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to be afraid.

Case in point. I was a tween with pimples; long, lanky limbs; and an attitude the summer our family went to Ohio to visit friends of my parents who lived on a farm. I didn’t much care if these people were nice. I didn’t much care what we would eat for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner. It wasn’t the beach, and I wasn’t overly thrilled to be in Ohio for a vacation. (No offense, Ohio people.) But I had heard they had horses, and that calmed my grump a good bit because, truth be told, I was giddy to ride one.

I just knew I was born to ride! My cousin Beth had horses, but up to that point, she hadn’t had the chance to teach me the ropes. Finally I would have my chance.

The sun danced with a summer breeze the morning we journeyed past the barn out into the pasture for our horse adventure. It was beautiful. A perfect day for an eager girl to do something new and exciting.

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